Rise of Rurik

Compared with other forces, the Rus people do have a strong power of action.

It's not that they have any deep beliefs that transcend others. To a large extent, their passion for action lies in wealth.

After discussing the countermeasures with the blacksmiths, Rurik hurriedly counted his treasury.

A large number of wooden boxes and suitcases were piled up in the well-guarded buildings, and there were only gold, silver and copper coins obtained by various means, among which the silver coins from Old Rome and the Franks were the largest. Not only money, but a large number of physical materials are the solid backing for his executive order.

That's food!

A large amount of grain has been literally piled up like a mountain, and the population directly controlled by the Rus Principality is much larger than before, and the number of infants and young children has exceeded 20,000.

However, the permanent settlements of Tombstone Island, Fort Elrond, Fort Fisk, Covinstad and New Rose are completely self-sufficient, with local consumption far below their economic output.

The largest settlement of the Rus Principality is Roseburg. Although Rurik had long wanted to completely move the capital to the new Roseburg at the mouth of the Neva River, due to practical factors, he found that he still needed to vigorously develop the prosperous place of Roseburg.

Roseburg has the largest population and is also the industrial, commercial and cultural center of the Principality, and the strongest combat power of the Principality is also here.

The city can still grow further, and since the fjord environment once hindered development, logging on the spot to open up new land. Of course, this is only one of the ways, and the other way is to pile up mountains of grain and coins in the warehouse.

Are the people of Roseburg really going to spend most of their time fishing, hunting and other food production as they have done in the past seven or eighty years? Enough grain for everyone to eat for a whole year is in the warehouse. Although it is close to the sea, the overall dry and cold environment naturally brings grain storage advantages. The people of Roseburg do not need to produce food, and all the people living here do high-value-added jobs, and blood transfusions from other areas are enough for food problems.

Looking at the amazing food and wealth, Rurik is full of confidence!

Entering December, the daytime in Roseburg has actually plummeted to a mere four hours. Everyone knows the shortness of the day, and the extreme cold at night makes people reluctant to go out.

Wanting to build a small town and organize a large number of people to mine ore in such an environment is a bit of a joke with human life.

Time is always precious, and the blast furnace that keeps burning cannot stop suddenly, and the first two furnaces continue to devour ore.

Furthermore, even if the harsh winter season is simply not suitable for building a new earth blast furnace in a new area, at least the woods should be cut down and the basic blacksmith's shack should be erected.

Despite the difficulties, Rurik was unwilling to linger.

Because Hanukkah is not far away from the Rus and the whole Nordic world.

On December 10 of the Julian calendar, the men and women who stayed in Rosberg relied on the rumors that had spread before, and they all walked out of the house and moved closer to the Duke's three-story mansion.

Most of the able-bodied men went to the north, especially in Elrond Castle, as a "base", carrying provisions for winter hunting in search of precious furs.

Most of the people who stayed in Roseburg were young and old, men and women, and even many outsiders. When it comes to robust labor, there are of course the mercenaries whom Rurik values ​​highly, as well as Heriger and his Meralen permanent settlers.

Even the Tavastian women who were allowed to leave the warehouse, they became much healthier because of their continuous good food, and now they all changed into the rewarded leather coats, and they were wrapped in the crowd with doubts and caution, and stood there. In front of the huge ducal palace.

Thousands of people of various colors gathered, and the crowd attracted many foreign merchants. The news about building a new town, about encouraging logging and mining, made many ordinary people feel itchy, and their hands were even more itchy.

People have heard a lot of news. Based on Lord Rurik's past, any promises Lord has been fulfilled afterwards, presumably this time is also inevitable.

This is also questioned by some people. After all, by encouraging so many people to work, the Duke is bound to bleed financially. Adults should pay all participants, which is not much.

The harsh winter still leaves many people so bored they can only stay at home.

In the past, the vast majority of Rus people were poor, and this poverty was directly reflected in the thinness of clothing. Nowadays, men and women are all dressed in leather, and all of them are furry. Keeping warm is no longer a problem, but being shy is a big problem.

The rumbling of the outside began before the sun rose, and Rurik was in a happy mood, while his wives and concubines complained.

He simply ate some jerky, and ordered his wives and concubines to immediately change into neat and decent leather coats.

The elites of Rus gathered in the rare and solid concrete floor of the duke's mansion.

Seeing the old Otto, Harrodsen greeted him like a brother and hugged him, his face glowing with enthusiasm as if he were celebrating a festival.

"Brother, the whole Roseburg is boiling. Everyone is waiting to make a fortune, and Rurik should be completely faithful."

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"Of course." Otto was still a little groggy because of the problem with the spirits yesterday. He plucked his fur again, and a burst of cold struck him full of energy. "Wait for Rurik to come out. You and a group of brothers will quickly set up a table for me, and he will give another speech."

"Just outside the yard? How about building with snow?"

"Okay, let's do it now."

Otto's old guys hurriedly built a podium for Rurik, and when the winter sun completely poured into the frozen Roseburg, Rurik stood furry on the podium made for him.

In front of him are the enthusiastic smiles of thousands of people.

He stretched out his hands and gradually calmed the commotion of the people, and then he probed his head to look left and right, and kept repeating a simple sentence in a voice that was changing.

"Build the town! Labor! Money! Everyone! Every day! A silver coin! I'll give you the food, and you'll get the money!"

He just kept yelling at these very short phrases. The statement is so simple and the content is so tempting!

Shout out a bunch of tirade? At this moment when there are no loudspeakers and papermaking has not yet been developed, public announcements of decrees should indeed be concise.

Rurik felt that he had to rely desperately on a few words, a few phrases, to formulate his orders, and he proved to be successful again.

To build a new town for the blacksmiths, only some able-bodied people are eligible to participate, and the people who gathered here have known in advance. Those old Ross men and even some strong women who are not too old are all needed labor, and they are all eligible to receive one silver coin a day!

The reward is so generous? The duke also promised that he would provide him with meals, and the payment would also be paid by the day.

So, wouldn't any worker earn enough money to buy ten pounds of oats and nine pounds of wheat for a day's work? On an ordinary day, such food is enough for a person to live for half a month.

Although the price of many consumer goods skyrocketed due to the influx of a large number of silver coins into Rus, the prices of wheat and meat were still low. They didn't understand what macroeconomic regulation was. In fact, Rurik lacked this knowledge, but Rurik had the only granary and only money bank in Rosberg, and only he set a very low guideline for the national economy and people's livelihood. Especially salt and iron, Rurik had a de facto monopoly. These core things that are related to the survival of the Principality are in his hands, and he feels that he will throw the rest to the market, and let all kinds of businessmen and producers coordinate by themselves.

How is this not a chance to make a buck? If the construction of the town takes 100 days, the strong man who participates in it will not only get food for 100 days in vain, but also get a pound of silver in his hand.

This pound of silver alone is enough for me, my wife and children to live a good year.

They completely lack economic knowledge, but their arithmetic skills are all talents, adhering to the traditional Viking arithmetic skills, they immediately discovered the huge benefits. Men and women were all giving out Viking battle roars, all of them praising the Duke's kindness.

This is the sound of cheers, the majestic sound deeply shocked the heart of Princess Mary, and also shocked the other wives and concubines of Rurik once again.

In fact, the one who touched the most at this rally was Mary. What she saw with her naked eyes was that in the hometown of the Vikings, a heroic king was supported by countless people.

This simple matter is only a legend in the hometown of Mercia. It seems that the old King of Mercia two hundred years ago once had the support of the people for a short period of time. Unfortunately, his cheap father, Wigraf, was clearly a faint-hearted monarch.

She covered her stomach unconsciously, and then stared at Rurik, who was standing on the snowdrift and continued to give orders. She didn't know whether to say anything about a major event.

Because, Queen Mary has not seen her period for more than two months, and the only man who was close to her after her last period was Rurik.

Perhaps at most fifteen hundred people were involved in the infrastructure construction of Blast Furnace. How long is the construction period? It may last for two months, or even the short construction period due to the sunshine time.

He knew even more that there would definitely be some giggling guys in the mix, and there would definitely be laborers.

It is of course necessary to arrange a small group of supervisors for them, but some unnecessary wear and tear must be tolerated.

Compared to the future when the blast furnace town is completed and put into operation, what is the money paid now? Even the focus is not on building towns at all, but on how much ore the mobilized Rus people can dig in the mountains.

Rurik is not worried that the ore will be exhausted one day, if there is, it will be thousands of years later!

It is an iron ore vein that extends from Denmark to the Arctic Ocean. It is the best iron ore vein in Europe. It is a vein that can be dug for tens of thousands of years simply by means of hammer, chisel and thermal expansion and contraction.

People chatted lively about silver coins and food, and the rumbling sound continued for a while.

Rurik waited for them to gradually quiet down before officially announcing the mining.

The new speech is still extremely simple and more penetrating.

"Anyone! Mining! I buy at market price!"

Rurik kept repeating these phrases, like arrows in the hearts of all men, women and children.

What is generosity, this is great generosity!

Rurik's declaration confirmed all the previous rumors, and now everyone in Rosberg who can hold a hammer and a pickaxe is qualified to mine and make money.

So, when does work start?

It's December 12th in the rough calendar!

Rurik deliberately chose this date, and there was no special reason for it, just because "Double Twelve" can be interpreted as a good luck in the literal sense.

However, when Rurik made all the declarations, all the people who had gathered ran away.

Rurik himself was dumbfounded, and he was silent for a while before laughing out loud.

"Damn, what are these guys doing? During the war, they didn't run as fast as they are today." Otto spit out.

Rurik descended the snowy hills quickly, refreshed and dry.

"Everyone has run away, what do you think?" Otto asked immediately.

"It's nothing. They're all busy going home with tools to dig in the mountains." Rurik said with a smile. As a father, Otto had a straight face this time.

Otto knew instinctively that Rurik's tossing would require a hemorrhage of wealth, and it was this kid who now had a huge amount of money in his hands to be able to squander it.

What else could Rurik do, he shrugged: "They can make money, and I won't lose. You'll see, we'll be stronger at this moment next year."

Listen, Otto will not say anything.

Rurik's judgment was completely correct, and the people who had made their promises rushed towards the mountains with tools and their own sleds. Most people claim to know what the iron mine looks like, but the number of women dispatched is staggering, and many people are obviously blindly obeying.

The old man, the young man, the young woman, and even all the old women, the guys who stopped weaving in their hands, rushed to the mountains with tools.

It's fair to say that Rurik was indeed shocked by the enthusiasm of such a group of blind movers. The chaos that Dad pointed out is a fact, but this chaos will soon stabilize.

It is entirely because iron ore needs to be hard on its own, and they are rushed in by the interest trend. Only some people can really dig iron ore and successfully bring it back.

Rurik also explained that the ore should be sold at the market price. To put it bluntly, this price was actually set by himself and the Blacksmiths Union in unison to control the pricing power. This is the sharp sickle for harvesting labor.

What's more, the entire Roseburg people know the real iron ore? If ordinary granite is excavated, naturally the high price of iron ore cannot be paid.

Rurik had anticipated many things, and they all came to pass in the short day of the next day.

In fact, many people were afraid of the cold at night, so they gave up mining to avoid being frozen to death. At least hide in a warm home and light an oil lamp to weave cloth. If you earn a lot less money, at least you won't be frozen to death.

Those who simply set up sheds in the mountains for the night did bring back a batch of ore. Unfortunately, the blacksmiths only took the real ore after sorting, and the granite was only paid at the price of ordinary stone.

Even for iron ore, it was purchased by the Blacksmiths Union at the market price, and its price plummeted by half. There are plenty of spontaneous miners outraged, so what's the harm? No one is forcing everyone to mine, so don’t do it if you can’t stand this low price.

However, the large group of Tevastian women were all swept away by Lurikla to dig. Even if women were indeed not suitable to keep digging ore with axes and chisels, their current status was that of slave labor. Mining and transporting ore to earn silver coins? Forget it! However, their accommodation, meals, and clothes are all provided by Duke Ross, and their labor is the price of getting these materials, and they have no bargaining power.

Even though the women had not been taken to the digs, Rurik reiterated their destination on December 11 of the Julian calendar, in a language they could all understand: "You will all be Balmers. women, you will not be slaves! You must work for me in exchange for the food, clothing, and shelter I give you, and when the weather becomes warmer, I will lead you to far-flung places. Tavastia is dead, you You will bear the calamity of the old leader's wrong decision, but I am not a villain. You will finally have a stable life, as long as you do things for me honestly now."

Any of them is now free, in fact, they are completely able to escape, but no one dares to do so. Where can you run away? Become the prey of the beasts on the ice field? Tavastia has indeed perished, and where is her home?

They still don't understand what a bright future is. At least now, they can only get food by working according to the orders of the conquerors. The wise people naturally live their lives step by step.

It was on this night that after careful statistics, a total of 450 young women of Tavastia were distributed with small axes and chisels, and a few apparently strong suitors also got a long-handled axe. A group of mining women should set off tomorrow.

This night, many men and women are also preparing. Even if the "invisible hand" has screened out the people who are not suitable for mining in Roseburg, many people still plan to work hard to mine ores to make money, even if they mine by mistake. granite.

Except for those who hunted and hunted seals, Parla, who made soap, those who were preoccupied with weaving, leather and garment makers, and others who had their own jobs, any idle labor force in Roseburg was mobilized.

No, on December 12 of the Julian calendar, only young children, mothers who couldn't get away, and the truly infirm were not involved, and Rosberg's labor force was mobilized one by one.

Even Yu Lumia was ordered to sacrifice to the statue of Thor alone, and encouraged the people on a spiritual level.

The noisy people pulled the sleigh with tools and marched to the west of Roseburg.

An unknown laborer also laid the first stake for Blast Furnace Town...